John Paulson

European Pressphoto Agency John Paulson

Hedge fund manager John Paulson and the Paulson Family Foundation pledged a $100 million gift to the Central Park Conservancy Tuesday, the largest gift to any public park and one of the largest to any New York City cultural institution.

Its simply impossible to imagine what New York would be without Central Park, Paulson, founder and president of Paulson & Co. said at a news conference announcing the gift.

A native of Queens, the 56-year-old Paulson attended Harvard Business School and started his company with his personal savings and contributions from family and friends.

With a net worth of $12.5 billion, Paulson was ranked number 61 on the 2012 Forbes list of the worlds wealthiest people.

John is a man who knows a good investment when he sees one. Central Park is fundamental to the economic and cultural health of New York City and the quality of life of its residents, said Doug Blonsky, CEO of Conservancy.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the news conference to announce the gift in front of Bethesda Fountain in the heart of the park.

Paulson rose to fame for his bets against subprime mortgages during the financial crisis, notching billions in gains for himself and his firm, Paulson & Co. and newfound stature as one of Wall Street’s most lionized investors. In 2007, he personally pocketed $4 billion.

He extended his winning streak by getting bullish on stocks in early 2009. And he poured money into gold before it climbed, resulting in another big payday of about $5 billion in 2010.

Investors plied Paulson with cash, helping to bring the New York firm’s assets under management to a peak of $36 billion at the start of last year.

But amid major subsequent losses at his fundsamong last year’s worst performers, according to investors clients have pulled out, and one is suing him for a losing bet on a Chinese forestry company, Sino-Forest Corp. The firm’s assets had fallen to about $19.5 billion as of August, with the majority of the money Paulson’s and his employees.

A person familiar with the firm said in August that some existing clients were looking to increase the amount of money they had with the firm and that the firm had also been contact by new investors.

Most of Paulson’s funds posted gains in September amid more stable market conditions and a rally in gold prices. Still, his two largest funds remain in the red. The Advantage Fund, which posted losses of 36% last year, was down 10.5% through September. The Advantage Plus Fund, which lost about half its value in 2011, was down 14.4%.